A team of Chinese researchers claims to have broken the record for creating the strongest magnetic field. The strongest magnetic field measured in the hole of the magnet was 45.22 tesla (T). The previous record was a magnetic field of 45T measured at the US National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in 1999, reports The Register.

In the hybrid magnet, coils of superconducting material were used. According to the researchers, it was improvements in materials and production of some elements that allowed them to break the record.

“To achieve higher magnetic field, we innovated the structure of the magnet, and developed new materials,” says the professor and academic director of the laboratory that conducted the research.

Chinese scientists have created the strongest permanent magnetic field: it is at least a million times stronger than the Earth's

The director of MagLab, which set the previous record, said he trusted the report by Chinese colleagues and looked forward to a scientific publication that would reveal more details. He noted that a larger infrastructure than the one they had in 1999 allowed the Chinese laboratory to break the record.

In particular, maintaining such a powerful magnet requires constant cooling with liquid helium and deionized water. Also, the concentration of a huge amount of electricity creates forces that try to break the magnet. Because of this, super-strong materials with the required properties are no less important.